Tuesday links: More to share on Raymond

We wrote last Friday on walk-on safety Mistral Raymond becoming a surprise contributor in the Bulls' secondary, but the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's Alan Dell has a better story, uncovering the "family issue" that led Raymond to walk on at USF rather than accepting scholarship offers at smaller schools.

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Raymond's family was attacked in their home in February 2008, with two men allegedly setting the house on fire and strafing the home with bullets, mistakenly targeting the wrong house. Raymond's sister, Nanise, was shot four times in the attack.

On a much lighter note, former USF assistant Troy Douglas called Monday morning, wanting to make sure it was made clear that his "Sweetbay" comment about Raymond last year, while harsh, was intended to reflect how new and unproven Raymond was that first week of practice after not working with the team in summer workouts. As we now know, Raymond has been through enough that a nickname shouldn't bother him too much.

-- USF's official site has posted video highlights from Saturday's win against Charleston Southern, and while Jerome Murphy was officially credited with blocking the field goal that Nate Allen returned 75 yards for a touchdown and linebacker Chris Robinson had also staked claim to the block, the replay sure seems to show the kick going squarely into the back of a CSU linemen, nowhere near Murphy and past the outstretched hand of Robinson, who might get credit for being the closest Bull to the actual block.

-- Funny video from GoUSFbulls.com, with receiver Carlton Mitchell reminding USF fans to "Go Green" on Saturday in Tallahassee to help offset the "whiteout" planned by FSU. Oscar the Grouch has nothing on him ...

-- USF has its weekly media news conference this afternoon, so we'll have lots of notes to share in a few hours. Keep checking back for lots more leading up to Saturday's big game ...

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